London, UK, October 19 – Over a thousand demonstrators from across the UK will protest at the Pakistan High Commission in London on Saturday [22 October 2005] to demand that the Musharraf regime mobilises the Pakistan army to the areas affected by the South Asian earthquake and that it ceases all military cooperation with America including the ongoing US operations in Waziristan. The demonstration is organised by Hizb ut-Tahrir Britain, a non-violent Islamic political party that is spearheading the work for the return of the Islamic Caliphate in the Muslim world.

Following the earthquake on 8th October 2005, it is feared that over 50,000 have been killed and at least 4 million have been made homeless. The slow and inept response of the Musharraf regime has fuelled immense anger amongst Pakistanis who feel that the aid effort has been severely hampered by the refusal of the regime to mobilise the army. Instead of mobilising the army to disaster affected areas, Musharraf has slavishly kept the Pakistan army mobilised in ongoing US operations in Waziristan.

Taji Mustafa, a media representative of Hizb ut-Tahrir Britain, said, "The Muslim community in Britain have been diligent in collecting money and despatching aid to the victims of this tragedy. Through this demonstration they will also send a strong message demanding an end to military cooperation with the US in Waziristan and the immediate mobilisation of the Pakistan army to disaster affected areas."

"The Western supported dictator Musharraf has once again shown that he puts the interests of the USA before the interests of his people. The Islamic Caliphate would unify the resources of the Muslim world and mobilise all available resources to respond speedily to natural disasters, free of outside interference."

The peaceful demonstration will take place this Saturday between 12 pm and 2 pm at the High Commission of Pakistan, 35-36 Lowndes Square, London, SW1X 9JN.

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